A 40-year-old beauty parlour owner was strangled to death in her south-east Delhi residence on Thursday allegedly by a domestic help whom her husband wanted to adopt as a son, police said.
The incident took place in Hari Nagar Ashram and the family's domestic help Anil was arrested in
this connection. The woman, Meenakshi Sharma, was murdered between 3:30 am and 7:30 am, a senior police official said.
The murder came to light at around 7:30 am when her son Shivang (20) found her lying unconscious in her bedroom.
Shivang, a student of Mass Communication at Panjab University, told police that he went to sleep at around 3:30 am and when he woke up, he found the door to his room latched from outside.
"He shouted for help and a garbage collector opened the door. Shivang then went to his mother's room and found her lying unconscious. The room was ransacked," the official said.
Though police initially suspected it to be a robbery-cum-murder case, the official said, a minor boy told police that Anil had asked him to enter Meenakshi's bedroom through an opening for exhaust fan and then open the door.
Anil was picked up for questioning and he confessed to the crime.
The domestic help told police that Meenakshi's husband Gopal Sharma wanted to adopt him but she was opposed to it.
"Anil was angry at her due to this and planned to kill her," the official said.
Meenakshi's opposition to the idea of adoption had strained the relationship with her husband. They were staying in separate rooms and were not on talking terms, police said.
Early this morning, Anil allegedly sent the boy inside her room. Once the door was opened, Anil allegedly strangled Meenakshi to death. He had also bolted Shivang's room from outside.